The Pope Benedict Organ

in the collegiate church ("Alte Kapelle")
"Of Our Lady, the Old Chapel" in Regensburg, Germany

This CD presents the first recording of the new Pope Benedict Organ, which was built in 2006 by the Swiss organ-building firm Mathis. The recording took place in Sept./Oct. 2006, during the week of celebrations surrounding the Blessing of the new Instrument by Pope Benedict XVI. Leading artists selected and presented works which demonstrated the organ’s wide range of registration possibilities. Extensive details regarding the planning and building of the organ are included in the accompanying booklet, as are valuable photos of the instrument.

“From time immemorial, the organ has been called the Queen of Instruments, and with good reason. It encompasses all the sounds of Creation itself and arouses the full extent of human feeling. And, like all good music, it takes us beyond human experience and into the realm of the Divine. Its wide variety of tone colours, from the barest whisper to the most overpowering fortissimo, elevates it beyond all other instruments. It can render all aspects of human existence in sound.” Pope Benedict XVI. Comments taken from the Pope’s Blessing of the Organ in the Alte Kapelle on September 13, 2006

The Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote: "A world has been created…giant Cathedrals in Sound have been created. Even on CD, the spatial effect and vividness of the instrument are phenomenal.” (see also Presse link in Menu for more)

Gerhard Weinberger, organ
Norbert Düchtel, organ
Edgar Krapp, organ
Wolfgang Seifen, organ
Choralschola ehemaliger Regensburger Domspatzen (gregorian chant)
Josef Kohlhäufl, conductor

CD-Content:

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750):
Präludium et Fuga e-Moll BWV 548
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901):
Sonate e-Moll op. 132 (IV. Passacaglia. Molto moderato)
Gerhard Weinberger, organ

Johann Melchior Dreyer (1747-1824):
Sonate für Orgel B-Dur (Rondo. Allegretto)
Johann Kaspar Kerll (1627-1693):
Capriccio sopra il Cucu (2. Fassung)
Norbert Düchtel, organ

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847):
Sonate c-Moll op. 65,2 (Grave - Adagio, Allegro maestoso e vivace, Fuga. Allegro moderato)
Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706):
Ciacona f-Moll
Edgar Krapp, organ

Orgelimprovisation und Gregorianischer Choral
Aus den Orgelversetten (im romantischen Stil) zum Magnificat im 8. Ton (Präludium, Magnificat alternatim) *
Symphonische Phantasie und Fuge für Schola und Orgel über die Marianische Antiphon "Regina caeli, laetare alleluja" kombiniert mit der deutschen Paraphrase "Freu dich, du Himmelskönigin" *
Wolfgang Seifen, organ
Choralschola ehemaliger Regensburger Domspatzen
Josef Kohlhäufl, conductor

English booklet enclosed (24 pages) / German booklet enclosed
Total recording time: 76.17 | Format: 1 CD Audio (Digipack) | RD: 15 Dec 2006
Recording: Sept./Oct. 2006 | * Live recording
(p) & (c) 2006 SPEKTRAL | Series SPEKTRAL CLASSICS
Ord.-No.: SRL4-06002 | GTIN (EAN): 4260130380007

Gerhard Weinberger, organ
studied organ (with Prof. Franz Lehrndorfer), church music and school music at the Munich Academy of Music. In 1971 he won an organ prize at the international music competition of the German broadcasting corporations (ARD). After three years as choir director at the Basilica St. Lorenz in Kempten he was offered a post as lecturer for organ and church music at the Munich Academy of Music in 1974, where he later assumed a professorship for organ in 1977. Since 1983 he has been teaching as a professor for organ at the Detmold Academy of Music, where he also heads the department of church music. He is a member of the “Europäische Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste“ and the director of the “Neue Bachgesellschaft Leipzig“.
He does numerous concerts in Germany and abroad, as well as CD records (including the complete organ work of J.S. Bach on historical instruments). He has received recording awards, and has served on juries, edited numerous editions of organ and religious choir music (including the complete organ works of Johann Ludwig Krebs and Robert Schumann), and has written a book entitled „Zur Interpretation der Orgelmusik J.S. Bachs“.

Norbert Düchtel, organ
studied catholic church music, composition and organ in Würzburg and Munich. He completed his organ studies with Jiri Reinberger, Michael Schneider, Ewald Kooiman, Michael Radulescu and Daniel Roth.
In 1979 he became a lecturer for artistic organ play and improvisation at the academy for catholic church music and music pedagogics in Regensburg and from 1988 he was head of an international organ class for “artistic organ play” at the Detmold Academy of Music. In 1985 he became an organist at the Papal Basilica „Unserer Lieben Frau zur Alten Kapelle“ in Regensburg. From 1998 to 2001 he was manager and artistic director of the „Fürstbischöfliche Hofmusiktage“ in the “Hofkirche der Residenz in Würzburg”.
In 1985 he was awarded the „Bayerische Staatsförderpreis“ for young artists. An extensive international concerting activity as organist takes Norbert Düchtel into different music centres (Rom, Wien, Budapest, Paris, Madrid, Jerusalem, Neapel, Zagreb, etc.). 2004 denomination as professor for “artistic organ play” at the state Academy of Music in Detmold.

Edgar Krapp, organ
comes from Bamberg and studied with Franz Lehrndorfer in Munich and with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris. After winning the 1st price in the Munich ARD competition in 1971 he started an international career as concert organist and pedagoge. Since then he has performed in many European states, the U.S. and Japan.
Well-known conductors like Rafael Kubelik, Colin Davis, Lorin Maazel and Horst Stein have invited Edgar Krapp to perform with their orchestras. Numerous CDs, broadcasting and television recordings, mostly with important historical instruments, document his broad repertoire, which comprises several epochs including the modern period. His activity centres on the organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, and he has performed the cycle in Frankfurt, Nurnberg, at the Rheingau-Musik-Festival and in Munich (the latter broadcast live).
From 1974 to 1993 Edgar Krapp headed an organ class at the Frankfurt Academy of Music. Later, from 1982 to 1991, he served as a guest professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1993 he accepted a professorship at the Munich Academy of Music. In acknowledgement of his artistic and pedagogic merit he was awarded the “Frankfurter Musikpreis”, the “E.T.A.-Hoffmann-Preis” of the city of Bamberg, as well as the “Friedrich-Baur-Preis für Musik”. He is a member of the “Neue Bachgesellschaft Leipzig“ and the “Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste“.

Wolfgang Seifen, organ
attended the music college of the Regensburg Domspatzen before beginning the study of church music in Aachen. He served as organist at the Papal Basilica in Kevelaer (a Seifert organ with 128/146 registers). Other artistic activity has included, among other things, serving as head of choir and orchestra, as teacher, and as composer at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart and the “Robert- Schumann-Hochschule” in Düsseldorf.
Beginning in October 2000 Wolfgang Seifen was a professor for improvisation and liturgical organ playing at the „Universität der Künste” in Berlin. Two years later Cardinal Sterzinski appointed him to the archiepiscopal commission for church music Berlin, and since 2004 he has been titular organist at the Kaiser- Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. Besides compositions for choir, organ and chamber music, he has also published texts on organ building and organ improvisation. Other activities include making numerous broadcast and television productions as well as dozens of CD recordings. Moreover, he is a co-founder and head of the international Altenberg organ academy for improvisation. Besides his extensive concertizing throughout the whole of Europe as well as the U.S. and Japan, he is involved as juror in numerous international competitions.

Choralschola ehemaliger Regensburger Domspatzen
The choir schola of the former Regensburg Domspatzen was founded in 1976. The schola dedicates itself to the performing of Gregorian chant according to the newest discoveries of musicological research, mainly in the service of the liturgy. In 1988 the ensemble won the first prize at the 36th International Choirs Competition in Arezzo in the category “Gregorian Chant”.

Josef Kohlhäufl, conductor
has been active as diocese Musikdirektor for Bistum Regensburg since December 1984. He is founder and head of the choir schola, and began his career as a church musician after his study with the Regensburg Domspatzen, where he was a choir leader and Magister Choralis under Domkapellmeister Theobald Schrems and Domkapellmeister Georg Ratzinger. From 1976 to 1990 he worked as music director of the diocese of Regensburg, and in 1984 he became „Stiftskapellmeister an der Basilika Unserer Lieben Frau zur Alten Kapelle” in Regensburg. From 1990 to 2004 he held an appointment as professor for “Gregorianik und Liturgik” at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.

With the purchase of this CD you support the friends of church music at the collegiate church “Of Our Lady, the Old Chapel” in Regensburg.

Another CD with recordings of the Pope Benedict Organ:
Pope Benedict Organ — International organ week 2007

Further informations: PapstOrgelRegensburg and Papst-Benedikt-Orgel

The Organ Site, all about pipe organs

Pope Benedict XVI, Birthday on 16. April

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